When President Mark B. Rosenberg surveyed the open spaces at Modesto A. Maidique Campus (MMC), he decided to enlist FIU talent to create a sanctuary for the university community.

More than 50 architecture, landscape architecture, and art students joined forces earlier this month to re-imagine four outside areas at MMC in a two-day collaborative session. Their challenge was to create emotionally satisfying and invigorating spaces, as well as establishing a coherent look to the campus.

Students were divided into four teams. Each group was assigned a key campus location: the lawn on the north side of GC; the breezeway in front of the Green Library; the DM theater and courtyard; and the residential housing quad.

The goal of the session, often referred to as a design charrette in the architecture world, was to develop plans that the university could implement. Students took into account safety, accessibility, shade and durability. Affordability was crucial.

“One of the fantastic things about this opportunity is that the projects are intended to become a reality,” said Marilys Nepomechie, professor of architecture, who served as an adviser to students during the design process.

“It’s awesome,” said architecture student Maria del Pilar Alva. “There are so many ideas and so many different ways of working that this integration is helping us understand how other careers work.”

The cross-disciplinary teams presented their designs Sept. 2 to Rosenberg, Vice President of External Relations Sandy Gonzalez-Levy – who spearheaded the project for the university – community leaders, faculty and staff.

“Everyone was impressed with the amount of work [the students] did in a short period of time,” said Architecture Professor Jaime Canaves.

After reviewing the plans, the university decided to further develop and implement three of the designs: DM theater and courtyard; Library breezeway; and the residential quad. Committee members felt it was not the right time to tackle the GC connector.

Students will fine-tune their designs in class for the rest of the semester. Members of the GC connector team will participate in the other projects. Canaves, who is teaching the class, says student will also learn office practices as well. In the real world, he says, architects work on three or four projects at the same time, and they still have to answer the phone and visit job sites.

“We are trying to help create that level of frustration in class,” he adds.

The university leadership hopes to begin developing the students’ ideas in the spring and hold an open space design charrette for Biscayne Bay Campus in the near future.

— Sissi Aguila ’99, MA ’08

DM Theater and Courtyard

Team members:

Jose (Pepe) Mar

Lissette Gonzalez

Michelle Komornik

Marcello Usbeck

Esteban Garces

Meredith Lambert

Luis Jimenez

Tyler Schwartz

Mario Menedez

Deana Sritalapat

Christina Rodriguez

Susanne Schiffer

David Gewurtz

Jose Manuel Alvarez

Camille Nicole Smith

Library Breezeway

Team members:

Peter Hammar

Alexis Cruz

Eduardo Huergo

Anaxor Padron

Luis Castellanos

Carolina Jaimes

Devin Cejas

Peter Coyle

Chelsi Rome

Alvaro Gazo

Luis Sanchez

Alfonso Rodriguez

Valeria Espinosa

Brian Joseph Vazquez

Fannie Torres

Residential Quad

Team members:

Alexandra Trimino-K

Beatriz Chaljub

Jesus Malagon

Manuel Vargas

Andres Pineda

Alejandro Perez

Alba Myers

Daniella Motro

Gayluz Rivera

Andrew Madonna

Carlos Romero

Martina Miachelle Gonzalez

Maria Ines Aragon

Jasbir Singh

GC Connector

Team members:

Ivania Guerrero

Maria Del Pilar Alva

Andrea Gutierrez

Jamie Musgrave

Ricardo Augustin

Sefora Chavarria

Kevin Banogon

Jenna Corsiatto

Jose Fonseca

Manuel Dorticos

Chrissy Perez

Thomas Bryan

Eddie Seymour

Garcia,Christine

Hon-Shen James Wang

Christopher Ricardo Cabezas

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